Holding means for trousers and the like on garment hangers



Dec. 6, 1960 GLQWKA 2,963,207

HOLDING MEANS FOR TROUSERS AND THE LIKE 0N GARMENT HANGERS Filed July 29, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

2 95 MARTIN GLOWKA WW ATTOP/Vil M. GLOWKA HOLDING MEANS FOR TROUSERS AND THE LIKE 0N GARMENT HANGERS Filed July 29, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 6, 1960 GLQWKA 2,963,207

HOLD ING MEANS FOR TROUSERS AND THE LIKE ON GARMENT HANGERS Filed July 29, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. MARTIN GLOWKA HOLDING MEANS FOR TROUSERS AND THE LIKE ON GARMENT HANGERS Martin Glowka, 7 St. Marks Place, New York, N.Y. Filed July 29, 1959, Ser. No. 830,328 Claims. c1. 223-91 This invention relates to the art of garment holders and more particularly concerns a spring means for holding trousers or other garments on a crossbar of a hanger.

The invention is especially applicable to hangers of the types having crossbars. The hangers may be of metal, plastic or wood types.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide a hanger having a crossbar with a spring arm for holding a garment on the crossbar.

It is another object to provide a hanger having a crossbar with a spring arm for holding a garment on the crossbar and having a manually operable spring latch for retracting the arm.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a hanger of a hanger embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is another elevational view of the hanger showing the spring arm in a retracted position.

Figs. 4 and 5 are elevational views of another hanger embodying another form of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Figs. 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18 are elevational views of other hangers embodying other forms of the invention.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary elevational view on an enlarged scale of part of a spring arm employed with a hanger, and taken on line 99 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on line 11-11 of Fig. 10.

Figs. 14 and 17 are sectional views on enlarged scales taken on lines 1414 and 17-47 of Figs. 13 and 15, respectively.

Fig. 19 is a fragmentary elevational view on an enlarged scale of portions of a latching mechanism according to the invention.

Fig. 20 is a front elevational view of a clothes hanger embodying a further modification of the invention.

Fig. 21 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the plane of the line 2121 of Fig. 20.

Fig. 22 is a front elevational view of a clothes hanger embodying a still further modification of the invention.

Fig. 23 is a vertical sectional view taken on the plane of the line 2323 of Fig. 22.

Referring to Figs. 1-3, there is shown a hanger 20 having lateral diagonal arms 22, 24 and a crossbar 25 secured across the hanger at the free ends of the arms. A hook 26 is secured at the apical end of the hanger and extends upwardly therefrom. Secured to arm 22 2.9mm Patented Dec. 6, 1960 la i at the inner side thereof is a clamp plate 28. Screws or nails 29 may be used to attach the plate to the arm 22. The plate has a ridge 30 in which is engaged the end of a coil spring 32. The other end of the coil spring is engaged in a ridge 33 formed in the top of a U-shaped bearing plate 34. Fig. 1 shows the bearing plate disposed on the crossbar and pressing down thereon due to the tension in the extended spring 32. The bearing plate can be disengaged from the crossbar and placed with one of its open wings 32 engaged in notch 21 formed in the inner side of arm 22 as shown in Fig. 3. The tension of the bent coil spring will hold the bearing plate in this out of the way position with respect to the crossbar. If a garment is placed on the crossbar, then bearing plate can be disposed on top of the garment to hold it on the crossbar. The spring 32 will flex according to the thickness of the garment placed on the crossbar.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 4-6, a spring wire 40 is coiled at its upper end at 41 and held by a staple 42 on the arm 22 of hanger 20 The other end of the wire is doubly bent at 43 and engaged pivotally on the ridge 44 of bearing plates 45. This bearing plate is shown out of the Way of crossbar 25 in Figs. 5 and 6 and is held with its Wings 45 in abutment with the inner side of arm 22 by the tension in the coil 41. In Fig. 4 the bearing plate 45 is pressed on the crossbar. To change the position of the spring wire arm 40 from that of Fig. 4 to that of Figs. 5 and 6, the arm must be flexed as it is being disengaged from the crossbar. When the arm is released it will straighten out as shown in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 7, the spring wire arm 40* is formed with hook 48 at its free end in hanger 20 This book engages on the crossbar 25 due to the spring tension in coil 41. The arm 40 is shown in dotted lines disposed out of the way of the crossbar 25 with the hook engaged on the inner side of arm 22.

In Fig. 8, the hook 26 of hanger 20 is extended at 23 below the crotch 27 of the arms 22, 24. The lower end 29 of the hook is flattened and may be bifurcated as clearly shown in Fig. 9. The upper end of a spring wire arm 31 may be engaged pivotally in the end 29 of the hook by a rivet or pintle 35. The lower end of the arm is bifurcated to form two spring fingers 37 on which are disposed rubber tips or caps 39. These fingers can be spread apart to engage the inner sides of arms 22 or 24 as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 8, so that the arm 31 will be disposed out of the way of the crossbar 25.

In Figs. 10 and 11, the hanger Zti has a U-shaped bearing plate 50 on the bight of which is secured by rivets 51 the end of a leaf spring arm 52. The other end of the leaf spring is secured by nails or screws 53 to the inner side of arm 22 at the crotch 27 of the hanger. The arm 52 is shown in dotted lines held by spring tension against the inner side of arm 22 out of the way of crossbar 25. The flat wings 50 on the sides of the plate 50 abut the inner side of the arm 22.

In Figs. l2, l3 and 14, hanger 20 has an eye 54 formed on the bight of bearing plate 55. Through this eye passes the spring arm 56. One end of arm 56 is coiled at 57 and secured by staple 58 to the inner side of arm 22. The other end of the arm is looped to form an eye 60 which can be engaged on hook 59. Hook 59 may be screwed into the arm 24 and its exposed free end extends laterally for engaging the eye 60. In the position of the arm 56 shown in Fig. 12, the plate 55 is pressed down on the bar 25. In the position of the arm shown in Figs. 13 and 14, the coil 57 elevates the arm and the arm straightens out through eye 54 to hold the bearing plate 55 elevated against arm 24 and out of the Way of bar 25.

In Figs. 15-17, hanger 20 has an ear 65 formed on bearing plate 66. This plate is U-shaped for engaging over a garment G shown in dotted lines in Fig. 17. Wings 66 will bear on the garment if it is thicker. A latch bar 68 having a pointed end 69 as best shown in Fig. 19 has its other end pivotally engaged by pin 70 on car 65. The pointed end of bar 68 is adapted to engage in a notch 71 formed in a latch release element 72. This element is a small flat plate pivotally secured by pin 74 to bracket arms 76 on hanger arm 22. The element 72 has a manually operable trigger 77 extending away from the notch 71 and normally ofiset from the inner side of arm 22 when the bar 68 is engaged in the notch as shown in Fig. 15. A leaf spring arm 75 has one end secured by rivet 79 to the bight of plate 66 and the other end of the arm 75 is secured by rivet 80 to the lower end of arm 22 of the hanger. Fig. 15 shows the bar 68 engaged in the latch element 72 and the arm 75 is flexed and under tension pressing the plate 66 on crossbar 25. If the trigger 77 is pressed toward the inner side of arm 22, the bar 68 will become disengaged from the notch 71 and the arm 75 will straighten out to raise plate 66 oif of the bar 25 as clearly shown in Fig. 16. a

In Fig. 18, hanger 20 has spring arm 75 replacing arm 75, but the other parts of the latching and latch release mechanism are the same as shown in Figs. -17 and 19. Arm 75 is coiled at 85 to tension the arm and tends to retract the plate 66 as indicated by arrow A. One end of arm 75 is coiled at 86 to form an eye engaged by pin 88 on the plate 66. The other end of the spring is engaged in ridge 89 of a clamp plate 28 similar to the clamp plate 28 shown in Fig. 2.

In the modified wooden clothes hanger shown in Figs. 20 and 21, the crossbar is pivotally connected at one end to the flat end 90 of arm 24 by a pivot pin 92, the other end of the crossbar being free and extending beyond the flat end 94 of arm 22*. A hook 96 depends from the flat free end of arm 22*, with its hooked end opening laterally and upwardly.

A paddle shaped metal plate 98 has one end twisted as indicated at 100. The twisted end of the paddle plate is horizontally disposed and fastened to the flat horizontally disposed flat end of the arm 22 with the body of the plate 98 disposed vertically and extending inwardly of the arm 22 substantially parallel to but slightly laterally offset from the crossbar 25 and in line with arm 22 A hook 26 supports the hanger from a horizontal support. In using this form of clothes hanger 20*, the crossbar 25 is swung laterally away from the hook 96 and the clothes slipped thereover. The crossbar is then swung back and the free end thereof slipped over the hook 96 as shown in dot-dash lines in Fig. 21. When the crossbar is in this operative position, the paddle plate 98 presses against the garment supported on the crossbar holding such garment against displacement.

Referring now to Figs. 22 and 23 wherein a plastic clothes hanger 20* with a supporting hook 26 is shown.

In this form of hanger, the crossbar 25 is formed integrally with arm 24 with its free end extending beyond the free end of arm 22 A hook 162 is formed integrally with the free end of arm 22 and depend therefrom with the hooked end extending laterally and being open upwardly as shown in Fig. 23.

A narrow vertically disposed plate or bar 104 is formed integrally with the free end of arm 22 and extends inwardly therefrom in line with said arm and slightly oifset laterally from the hooked end of hook 102. as shown in Fig. 23. The inherent flexibility of the material of crossbar 25 permits the crossbar to be swung over the hooked end of the hook 102 as shown in Fig. 23 for holding a garment supported on the crossbar. When the crossbar is in this operative position, the

4, bar or plate 104 presses against the supported garment and prevents displacement thereof.

In all forms of the invention shown in Figs. l-19, the spring arm yieldably presses a bearing element on the crossbar to efiectively hold a garment thereon. In all such forms, spring means are provided for biasing the arm away from the crossbar of the hanger to clear the bar. In the improved forms of the invention shown in Figs. 15-19, latching means is provided for automatically disengaging the spring arm from the crossbar.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise constructions herein disclosed and that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is;

1. In a hanger having a pair of laterally extending coplanar arms joined at one end to form a generally inverted V-shaped body with a crossbar extending across the body and secured at the free ends of the arms and with a supporting hook located at the apical end of the body, a garment-holding structure comprising a bearing plate, a spring member attached at one end to the plate and at the other end thereof to one of said arms, a latching bar pivotally attached to said plate, and a catch member supported on said body and having a portion shaped to engage said latching bar to hold said plate against the crossbar under tension in said spring member.

2. In a hanger having a pair of laterally extending coplanar arms joined at one end to form a generally inverted V-shaped body with a crossbar extending across the body and secured at the free ends of the arms and with a supporting hook located at the apical end of the body, a garment-holding structure comprising a bearing plate, a spring member attached at one end to the plate and at the other end thereof to one of said arms, a latching bar pivotally attached to said plate, and a catch member supported on said body and having a portion shaped to engage said latching bar to hold said plate against the crossbar under tension in said spring member, whereby release of the latching bar by said catch member relieves the tension in said spring member to lift said plate ofl the crossbar, said catch member being a pivotable plate having a notch for receiving an end of the latching bar.

3. In a hangar having a pair of laterally extending coplanar arms joined at one end to form a generally inverted V-shaped body with a crossbar extending across the body and secured at the free ends of the arms and with a supporting hook located at the apical end of the body, a garment-holding structure comprising a bearing plate, a spring member attached at one end to the plate and at the other end thereof to one of said arms, a latching bar pivotally attached to said plate, and a catch member supported on said body and having a portion shaped to engage said latching bar to hold said plate against the crossbar under tension in said spring member, whereby release of the latching bar by said catch member relieves the tension in said spring member to lift said plate oif the crossbar, said catch member being a pivotable plate having a notch for receiving an end of the latching bar, said spring member being a leaf spring.

4. In a hanger having a pair of laterally extending coplanar arms joined at one end to form a generally V-shaped body with a crossbar extending across the body and secured at the free ends of the arms and with a supporting hook located at the apical end of the body, a garment-holding structure comprising a bearing plate, a spring member attached at one end to the plate and at the other end thereof to one of said arms, a latching bar pivotally attached to said plate, and a catch member supported on said body and having a portion shaped to engage said latching bar to hold said plate against the crossbar under tension in said spring member, whereby release of the latching bar by said catch member relieves the tension in said spring member to lift said plate off the crossbar, said catch member being a pivotable plate having a notch for receiving an end of the latching bar, said spring member being a coiled spring wire.

5. In a hanger having a pair of laterally extending coplanar arms joined at one end to form a generally inverted V-shaped body with a crossbar extending across the body and secured at the free ends of the arms and with a supporting hook located at the apical end of the body, a garment-holding structure comprising a bearing plate, a spring member attached at one end to the plate and at the other end thereof to one of said arms, a latching bar pivotally attached to said plate, and a catch member supported on said body and having a portion shaped to engage said latching bar to hold said plate against the crossbar under tension in said spring member, whereby release of the latching bar by said catch member relieves the tension in said spring member to lift said plate OK the crossbar, said catch member being a pivotable plate having a notch for receiving an end of the latching bar, said bearing plate being generally U-shaped in cross section With laterally extending flat wing portions for bearing down on a garment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,971,565 Holman Aug. 28, 1934 2,377,218 Ellis May 29, 1945 2,547,561 Brooke Apr. 3, 1951 2,620,951 Tyler Dec. 9, 1952 2,886,223 Levin May 12, 1959 2,886,224 Bourne May 12, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 499,268 Canada Ian. 19, 1954 499,795

Canada Feb. 9, 1954 

